I RECENTLY moved from the north to the east of Singapore. I
enrolled my child in a nearby kindergarten and started looking for
a school bus operator.
The school provided only one name and claimed it had always
recommended the person to handle parents' requests for
transportation services.
This is very different from schools in the north which typically
recommend several companies based on their level of service and
feedback from parents.
Nonetheless, I called the man and was left with the impression
that he acts more like an agent who coordinates the arrangements
with several school bus operators.
He gave me a verbal quotation which was almost 60 per cent more
expensive than what I used to pay. I wanted to do a check on
pricing and found a bus company which operates for another
kindergarten in the same area, a few kilometres away from my son's
new school.
When I called, the person in charge gave me a price which was
about 40 per cent cheaper than the first quotation. But when he
learnt about the location of my child's school, he rejected my
request and claimed he was 'not allowed' to run that route.
It is surprising that in this industry there is such an
arrangement where service providers collude to have certain
providers monopolise the routes and leave consumers with no
choice.
Is this a widely known practice that I am not aware of?
Lok Chun Hao
